Last night Sarah took my car and some of her favorite CDs. When I turned on the car and left for work today a song by Bebo Norman was playing in the CD player – All That I Have Sown. Considering our study of EPIC and conversation about story this song connected with me big time. My favorite line: “It’s living inside me. It was planted like a seed. All to tell a story.” Enjoy!
From the album Big Blue Sky, All That I Have Sown:
I believe when they put her in the ground
I think they buried part of me
Because I’ve been searching, I’ve been looking all around
But I cannot find the heart of me, the heart of meSo I’ll put my fingers in this soil upon her grave
And I will plant for her a garden
And every flower, a reminder of her face
Will grow up graceful as a pardonAnd all that grows is her story told
As life unfolds here before us
The peace I’ve found in this broken ground
I can see her in the harvest…of all that I have sownLong before I was covered up in gray
Before the old had bent my bones
We grew our children in the red Georgia clay
They were our garden and our homeAnd all that grows is our story told
As life unfolds here before
The peace we found in that broken ground
I can see them in the harvest…of all that I have sownAnd when my life is done
I pray the kingdom come
And take me to Glory
It’s living inside me
It was planted like a seed
All to tell a storyI believe when they put me in the ground
There will remain a part of me
Because I’ve been searching and the joy that I have found
Is living in my family…it’s all that I have sown
This week’s reading on Act I is really simple, yet something quite profound. When I first heard the message of the Larger Story, Act I hit my by surprise. Why? Because I had always heard (and assumed) that chronologically the story started with Genesis 1. My Christian upbringing was quite human centered, as I would suspect most of ours has been. So considering the Trinity’s existence long before time and space was quite a challenging thought for me.
Over time, however, I’ve grown to really love this aspect of God’s character. Maybe it’s selfish, but I find it such a relief that I’m not solely responsible for my own story! It’s so awesome to consider that all humans are part (or at least have the opportunity to become a part) of the story God is writing. I’m thankful that the weight of my life is not left up to that which I could make of it. That’s why this week’s favorite quote sums up the blessing of Act I:
Something preceded us. Something good. We’d much rather be included in something grand than have to create the meaning of our lives. To know that life, ultimately, doesn’t rest on our shoulders, but invites us up into it.
As I read through each chapter in the EPIC reader, I’m looking for a single thought that I find most impacts my life. With each chapter I’ll share that thought and what it means to me. Feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter.
Chapter 1: Prologue
This one thought was the key for me this week:
“We won’t begin to understand our lives, or what this so-called gospel is that Christianity speaks of, until we understand the Story in which we have found ourselves.”
Understanding THE STORY has brought absolute context to my life. Although not every little moment has come into crystal-clear focus, understanding that my life falls into some larger thing going on, and that moments of my life are just that – moments – not everything- has brought great comfort.
In the EPIC Prologue we talked about story, and how life – our life and the life of those around us – is best interpreted through the lens of a story. In fact, understanding the fullness of the gospel story – of God’s story – takes on a broader, more powerful look and feel if I step away from what I know and experience, and ask “what is going on in this ‘larger story’ God is telling?”
Take Away Questions: Consider the stories you love. Your favorite books, movies, plays. What about that story interests you so? Is there a character with whom you identify? Ask God to reveal to you why that story means so much to you. What does that story reveal about what my desires are? What parts of that story borrow from your story God?
NOTE: This post is a follow up to a small group we’re leading. This goes with our first official week into the EPIC series by John Eldredge, where we talked about story as a whole and watched John introduce the idea of life being best interpreted through the lens of story.
I’ve been amazed how many stories I’ve heard in the last few days. Sometimes I just take story for granted, which is quite easy to do, simply because it’s so normal. Yes- telling stories is a normal, if not THE normal means of communication for humankind.
Having two very distinct “jobs” I see both sides of human expression. In the world of software development, story is the basis of any new initiative- it’s someone’s story of anticipation or of pain that creates the need for new programs or enhancements to existing ones. However, most of development work is very dry, bullet-point details, and straight-to-the-point with extreme rigidity. It reads like a list of rules and regulations with little to no context. This type of expression is void of meaning and is merely “academic.”
On the other hand, when I connect with people for photography, it is completely about story. In fact, that’s what I want to help people do- provide images that help augment and re-tell the way a story actually unfolded. It’s an absolute expression of story!
Just this week my family ran into a friend at Target (great place to run into people, you know?) Rick and Caleb told me they were just at another store and they picked up some bead board.
Now if they just told me the cold hard facts, I would know the details for sure. But without the story behind it, I would be totally lost. I have no idea what “bead board” is. Instead, they told me their story, and it made so much more sense.
Life is told in story!
So the next time you talk to anyone- you turn on the radio, you run into someone at the store- ask yourself this question “what’s the story being told?”
Your life and everyone else’s will make better sense when in the context of story.
I’ve made it a personal goal to read through the Old Testament in 2010. Although completing the entire OT this year is quite unlikely, I am really enjoying reading through the Torah. Deuteronomy is a wonderful read, especially if you look at the law and ask the following question:
- What does the law reveal about God’s heart towards mankind?
A simple challenge is this: read through Deuteronomy and consider what things are revealed about God’s heart and about God’s character.
If you’re not into the Law, you can also walk through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John in the New Testament) and consider what things are revealed about God’s heart and about God’s character towards you and towards your neighbor (your fellow man.)
Looking at it from a story perspective, one might consider God the “Author” of the law in Deuteronomy. In the New Testament Gospels, He is both “Director” insofar as the story of Jesus was part of His plan to restore mankind to Himself, and He is the main character as well in Jesus.
Ask these questions when reading through scripture. Perhaps the Holy Spirit will reveal something new about His character!
- What does the law reveal about God’s heart towards me?
- What does the law reveal about God’s heart towards my neighbor?
- What do the Gospels reveal about God’s heart towards me?
- What to the Gospels reveal about God’s heart towards my neighbor?
17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
With the bustle of a new baby on the way I’ve felt quite unmotivated to contribute to the Proverb Curb as of late. However, over the past few days I have experienced an amazing and frightening reminder how important is daily connection with the Father and an awareness of the Kingdom.
In Star Wars, A New Hope (the original 1977 film – episode 4) Obi-Won Kenobi senses a “disturbance in the force.” This happens when Darth Vader and his Death Star test their ultimate killing machine by destroying Princess Leia’s home planet, Alderaan. Obi-Won is sensitive to the destruction of the planet, and says, “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.”
As I read about the lives of many of my friends, talk to them, interact with them, and just listen to what is going on, I, too, have felt a disturbance over the last week. At the risk of sounding ultra mystical, something is going on in the Spiritual realm. But this should be no surprise, and simply highlighted my need to stay connected and aware through reading scripture, praying, listening, serving, etc.
17Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to make war against the rest of her offspring—those who obey God’s commandments and hold to the testimony of Jesus. Revelation 12:17
Although this passage may symbolize a different “time” than today, it is certain in the Bible that Satan and his demons are not friends of Christians, and will do anything to destroy us.
Be aware, and beware.
Being an idiot who tends to repeat failures from the past and has a hard time with routine and “discipline,” this thought/revelation/idea (call it what you will) struck such a strong accord this morning I had to blog it.
I generally hate running. Why? I prefer competitive athleticism, but participating in such is difficult with a full time job, side business, church activities, and most importantly 2.5 lovely daughters and a lovely wife. However, I’ve been trying to get in a routine because I believe one’s physical wellness is just an important as one’s emotional, intellectual, and spiritual wellness.
So this morning I got on the treadmill. If I generally hate running, I loath running on a treadmill. Maybe it’s the “put in an honest day’s work and you’ll get all the workout you need” farm boy mentality. Anyway, it is what it is, but today I learned something inspirational. At least it was to me.
If you’ve ever ran or walked on a treadmill, you know that feeling you get when you step off, right? If not, have you ever sat in the back seat of a car, you’ve been there for 5 hours straight (or a long time anyway), and the car suddenly comes to a stop. You feel like you’re in a perpetual braking state for about 10 minutes. When you’re on the treadmill it’s a little different feeling, but certainly something is a little off.
When I stepped off the treadmill this morning it was like every step I took plunged me forward another 10 feet. At least that’s how my physiological being perceived it. You see, my body is conditioned to anticipate and react to perceived patterns and preinterpret what’s going to come next. That’s the feeling I was getting, that I’m actually walking farther than I am – it was all due to my mind anticipating my body would be covering more ground with each step. Treadmills mess with our perception anyway, because when you run outside you see your surroundings pass by. On a treadmill your surroundings are usually still, so your mind and body are a little misled.
Breaking my “spiritual body” workout routine is kind of like stepping off the treadmill. So long as I’ve been making forward progress in my life of disciplines and staying in communication with God, breaking from that (for whatever reason) has an interesting side effect. It’s kind of like stepping off that treadmill this morning.
This is not a proven scientific fact, but I find the more I run with God, the easier it is to keep forward motion if for some reason a disruption comes in my spiritual running session. If it’s missing a reading, a moment for prayer, a blessing for my child, or a church gathering, I can quickly bounce back if I’m already in motion. The same with sin. If I’m running with God, and I sin (which is my fault for not being resistant to the temptation – a.k.a Satan’s forces), my previous forward progress is like my mind telling my spirit “Dude, you were running! You stopped, but if you keep moving forward, you’ll bounce right back.”
I’m not minimizing the importance of confession, repentance, and resolution to running the right course. Not at all. I’m simply saying that my awareness of what I did, where I’m at, and what the path forward looks like, is heightened all the more.
And for those of you thinking “Christians are so treadmill, they keep their faith inside, make a lot of noise, but go nowhere,” I know exactly how you feel. But that’s another blog topic, another day, and not the point here.
Thanks for reading! Keep walking with God, but don’t forget to run, but don’t forget to slow down… 
Last night I was in a small group and we talked about love being patient and love being kind. Patience is tough when we’re so busy, and when we’re busy it’s easy to be irritable and not loving. However, becoming aware of someone else’s story often takes an incredible level of patience and requires one to act with kindness.
In the spirit of The Proverb Curb, being all about slowing down and considering the finer points of life and how to live with better wisdom, I thought these three points where right on.
- To practice love I need to be more patient. That means slowing down, and requires me look around, to see with my eyes what’s going on around me. (It’s not about me.)
- To practice love I need to be more kind. This is an actionable derivative of being patient and actually becoming aware of my surroundings. Being aware of what’s going on around me, by implementing patience, I can then listen to the circumstance (those literally discernible or those that take a little more heart or spiritual intuition to figure out) of those around me.
- Follow through= kindness requires action- if there’s an opportunity to be kind- take it immediately. This was a great lesson to hear last night.
Challenge: how can you improve your patience and enhance your kindness?
Have any of you seen the new TV show “Undercover Boss?” I’ve not heard much about it, seen a preview or an episode, only that it’s a new show. But I have heard people talk about it.
If you’re like me you will listen to a conversation, even though you have no idea what the subject matter may be. That’s my fourth realization of the importance of story, and what’s going on inside of me when I don’t quite understand the whole thing.
I wonder- is this how people feel, those who don’t know what Christianity is really about? Those who don’t know the larger story?
Observations/ things I said to myself:
- This thing sounds intriguing
- Cool concept
- I think I might like that, if it is true what they are saying about it
- From what I heard of it, it would be cool to check out but my life won’t end if I don’t
- Maybe I should be at least a little familiar with the concept in case my co-workers/friends/family talk about it again
- Another show to watch? Cool or not, I don’t have time for another commitment
So I just wonder if any of the above thoughts might be played out in the minds of those around Christians. Put yourself in the shoes of someone who has not heard the Gospel. Think about the state of one’s ill informed preconceptions about a story, and how important your voice is in portraying the reality of the message of the story.
Bottom Line:
My delivery may just be the difference between investigating to find out more and tuning out to ignore forever. This is one reason I think understanding and proclaiming the big picture is so important.
